The Last Winter
by coralsky
Summary: The Great Stirring didn't end with the fall of the giants and the Titans. New monsters have appeared in other universes too, and in Middle-Earth, Lothlorien is under attack from these creatures. Three heroes have been chosen to help Middle-Earth, and not all will come back...
1. Prologue

"The Orcs are coming."

The whisper was passed through the forest. The elves readied their bows.

There was a sharp twang, and many of the Orcs fell dead to the ground, with arrows sticking out of their throats. The eyes of the archers glinted above them. One of the elves gasped.

"They're above us!" Dark masses sprang out of the trees and latched onto the elves. Within seconds, the elves were fighting for their lives as new monsters came from nowhere. They had never seen such strange creatures before and were unable to kill them.

Lady Galadriel sighed as she stared at the scene before her in the fountain. The elves – _her _elves – were being destroyed by the strange beings. For the first time, Lothlorien was being invaded. Her magic could not work on these otherworldly creatures.

"What do you see?" Lord Celeborn asked.

"So many fallen… And the rest are fleeing to the West." Galadriel looked troubled. "This is the end of Lothlorien."

Celeborn stiffened. "We cannot abandon Lothlorien. We are the guardians, and we shall remain when all else falls."

Galadriel looked into the fountain. The silver mist in the water swirled thickly before parting. Galadriel remained staring at the waters for a long time. At last she looked up.

"Change is coming," she announced

"Good or bad?"

"Two worlds will intertwine. It is happening at last. The intersection of the worlds. There will be change coming, and it cannot be stopped." Galadriel stepped away from the fountain. "Our fortunes are bound together."

"The time of heroes has come."


	2. The Only Way Out

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for not updating, I guess I'll probably only update once a week. About this chapter, it was taken from my earlier story, but I discontinued that story. However I really like this chapter and I think its much more suited to this LOTR/PJO crossover instead. Hope you don't mind reading the same chapter! Don't worry, the story gets more interesting later on, this is just a basic introduction ~**

**I am Reyna daughter of Bellona: Thanks for your suggestions!**

My name is Summer Forrester, and I'm on the run.

I just turned thirteen last week. Sure, birthdays in the orphanage are nothing to celebrate about. In fact, people don't even remember it. At least I was finally a teenager. THIRTEEN. _The _important double digits. Everything was working out great until the monster tried to kill me.

The monster was a scary woman with serpent trunks for legs. And this particular one seemed to have marked me. No matter what I did, where I hid, it would always be following me. It had crashed through the orphanage on my birthday night and started chasing me. All I could do was grab a knife and start running. To make matters worse, it was not alone. This morning, two gigantic black dogs accompanied it.

So far, I had managed to escape the monster by climbing up trees and/or jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Turns out that a woman with serpent legs cannot climb trees. I really thought I had a chance to escape until the two dogs turned up and started chasing me.

Now I was on the edge of a cliff, holding out a knife. I sneaked a peek at the drop behind me and almost fainted. The sea sparkled far below, glinting a beautiful green colour in the sun. The fall from the cliff would probably kill me, if the monsters didn't kill me first or I didn't get impaled on the rocks below. The woman had a creepy smile on her face and the two dogs were panting eagerly, as if they sensed my impending death.

"Half-blood, drop that puny mortal weapon. You can't kill usssss," the woman hissed. Her voice was really raspy._Half-blood_? What was a half-blood? She was correct, though. I had tried slashing at her with my knife, but her cuts healed instantly. She was not mortal.

"You'll never get me," I shot back. I stepped back towards the cliff, ready to fall off if needed to. At least a quick death with a broken neck would be preferable to being eaten by the woman and the dogs. And by the looks of the drool on the dogs' faces, it would be a slow death with me being chewed to pieces. Shivers ran up and down my spine. I wasn't ready to die yet. I hadn't found out the truth about my parents and all the monsters that followed me, but no one seemed to see them except me. I wanted answers.

"DIE!" The woman lunged at me, with the two dogs flanking her.

I closed my eyes and stepped off the cliff. Yet even as my feet left the ground, I knew it was too late. I was too slow and the woman would catch me before I could fall.

Then suddenly, I heard a deep voice next to me. "Whoah girl, don't die just yet." Shocked, I opened my eyes. A boy was standing next to me, his arm around my waist, preventing me from falling,. I stared at him. He had light brown hair and really nice green eyes. They were the colour of leaves in the spring. He had an open, friendly smile and was also quite buff, like he worked out a lot. He was wearing a white cotton shirt and gray trousers. A quiver was strapped across his back and he held a bow in his hands.

"What... who are you?!" I gaped.

"I'm the good guy, here to save the damsel in distress," he grinned. Then his eyes focused on the monsters. "Looks like we'll introduce ourselves to each other later, _mademoiselle_. We've got something to beat."

The woman was fuming mad. Her hair was standing on ends and her eyes had narrowed to slits. "Another half-blood," she spat. "Don't you heroes ever die?"

"Afraid not. We just keep coming back for more. You know, saving others, going on quests, and other stuff like that," the boy replied cheerfully.

With a snarl, the woman flicked her wrist and the dogs sprang. My heart was in my mouth. I was sure we were going to die. After all, it was the three of them versus him.

The boy pulled out an arrow and attached it to his quiver. With deadly aim, he shot one of the dogs through the eye. The dog dissolved into dust. The other dog was faster. It leaped at the boy and knocked him onto the ground. The boy struggled, trying to retrieve his bow and arrows but he was pinned down. The woman cackled as she moved towards me, standing there defenceless.

Another boy jumped in front of me. This boy had dark hair and his clothes were all black. He held a short black sword in his hands. I was too stunned to do anything except stare. The woman backed away swiftly, chanting something.

"Oh crap. She's calling for reinforcements," the boy in front of me muttered. He raised his sword and slashed at the woman, but she dodged out of his way pretty well, considering her weird legs. Suddenly more monsters appeared behind her. There were more of the serpent-women, a couple more big dogs, and even a few vampire-like creatures.

The boy stuck his sword into the ground and began to speak. I caught a few words of "rise and serve me" but it didn't make much sense. A few seconds later, several skeleton warriors rose up from the ground. They had hanging clothes draped from their bones and grinning skulls. I started screaming. The whole thing was so surreal. It was like the zombie apocalypse had started.

The boy pointed at the monsters. "Kill them!" The skeleton warriors lunged towards the monsters who immediately started hacking and biting them, but the undead beings didn't seem to mind. They just kept pounding the monsters. Arrows also fired from behind me, banishing the monsters to dust. I turned behind to see the brown-haired boy calmly firing arrows from his quiver.

"Jet, why do you have to interfere? This was my assignment, and you didn't listen to me. Who asked you to go first? You're only supposed to watch over me, not take over the whole operation! And look what happened. If I hadn't come, you and the girl would have been killed!" the dark-haired boy snapped.

The brown-haired boy, or Jet, flashed a quick smile at me. "Chill Nico. Look, she's safe, we're safe, its all cool." He continued shooting arrows while he spoke.

"And I'd appreciate it very much if you left the monsters to me," Nico said. "There's no need to keep shooting them." His skeletons were quickly taking care of all the monsters, with only some left.

"Hey, you okay?" Jet stared at me, ignoring Nico. I was wobbling on my feet and the whole world was spinning around me. I felt like I was going to faint any moment.

"Err yeah...! OH MY GOSH!" I yelled as one of the black dogs flew towards me. It was going at such a fast speed that even Jet and Nico were stunned. The dog pushed into me and I fell, backwards into the ocean, with a giant dog beside me.


	3. The Ugly Truth

I'd like to say that I had an epiphany, and all the great truths about life came to me.

The truth is? The only thought I had in my head was AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH I'M GOING TO DIE I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE! I could actually _see _the sharp jagged rocks I was going to land on, rising up to meet me and impale my body. Below me, the black dog had somehow fallen into the ocean and disappeared in a splash.

And then I landed on a flying horse.

You got that right, a _flying horse_. The white horse had a pair of feathery wings growing from its back and I had landed perfectly on its back. Stunned, I sat there for a while gathering my thoughts. "Who-who are you?" I stuttered.

_My name's Porkpie. _Oh my gosh. Its official. I went insane. First, I saw weird monsters, then hallucinated about two boys, and now I invented flying horses. I almost fell off the horse's back when the voice entered my head. It sounded pretty cranky, for a voice. And what kind of name was Porkpie? I giggled.

_Number one, I'm not a horse. _The voice spoke again. _I am a pegasus. Which is kind of like... a horse, but better. And Porkpie is not a stupid name. I'll have you know, it was my great-grandfather's name. _

_Okay_. I shrugged. I wasn't about to argue with the horse when I was on its back above a cliff. Whatever the horse-pegasus-thing was, it seemed pretty capable of flying, seeing that it had saved me from crashing into the rocks. It swooped up to the cliff and deposited me gently on the grass. I stroked its nuzzle and it gave a soft neigh. _Thanks, Porkpie,_ I thought.

_No problem. _The pegasus flew away and I found myself facing a pair of green eyes. "You okay?" Jet demanded. "No bones broken or anything?"

"Nope, obviously she died," Nico drawled. "No one's standing before you, Jet." Seeing how I had almost died, the casual remark stung. I glared at him. He didn't seem to care at all, unlike Jet who appeared to be really worried about me. I felt touched, considering how I had just met him, and a smile tugged at the corner of my lips.

"I'm fine," I said. "Thanks to Porkpie. No thanks to you," I shot at Nico. I hadn't gotten a good look at him - fighting monsters does that to you - but now I scrutinized him closer. His skin was rather pale and contrasted sharply with his dark clothing. Nico had slightly shaggy dark hair and dark brown, almost black eyes. His shoulders were hunched and a short black sword hung by his side.

''I thought we lost you. Thank gods you're safe," Jet sighed. He looked really cute with his eyebrows all scrunched up like that. I flushed and quickly stepped away from him. Here was a guy who qualified as seriously cute - scratch that, _hot_ - and I had gone and made a fool out of myself in front of him.

"Are we all done with the sappiness?" Nico rolled his eyes. "If you excuse me, we need to get back to camp." He started walking off and I noticed something curious. Where Nico's feet touched the grass, the grass turned black and started withering.

I crossed my arms and stayed rooted to my spot. "You haven't told me _anything_. Who are you, what are you doing here and what in the world is going on? And what's the camp?"

Jet ran his fingers through his hair. "Its really hard explaining stuff like this."

"Just tell me!" I said, frustrated.

"You're a half-blood." Nico supplied the answer. "You're half-god, half-human."

My mouth fell open and I started laughing. Who did these guys think they were, teasing me like that? "Nice one guys, but you're not going to fool me," I chuckled. "Seriously, think of better jokes next time."

"Summer, we're not joking." Jet's face was deadly intense. "I'm a half-blood. I'm the son of Apollo. Nico -" he gestured, "is the son of Hades. You're a half-blood too, but we don't know who your godly parent is yet. Remember those monsters that attacked you? Mortals, normal people, shouldn't be able to see them. Face it. You're a half-blood."

Apollo and Hades? Weren't those two some kind of god in... I cast about in my head for the answer. Greek mythology? It was all just myths and legends. I couldn't believe anyone would be crazy enough to think that they exist. Yet... uneasiness washed over me as I remembered the skeletal warriors that Nico had somehow drawn out of the ground. And the way the Jet had unfailing accuracy when he was shooting the arrows. Not to mention the monsters that no one else could see.

Which meant... that meant...

Nico's dark eyes softened. "It's a lot to take in at first, isn't it?"

"I guess," I muttered, still feeling dazed. Things like this happened to people in books and movies, not to me. "I don't believe this. I'm dreaming." I pinched my arm and let out a tiny yelp, surprised that it actually hurt.

Nico was pacing back and forth impatiently. "Believe it or not, you're coming back with us to camp. If you stay, there's only going to be more monsters appearing." He raised an eyebrow at me. "You don't want that to happen. Come on, Summer."

I bit my lip, unsure whether to head off with these unknown strangers. It wasn't like I had any other option either. "You know, we never introduced ourselves formally." That probably wouldn't help, but I wanted to retain some semblance of normality. If normal was planet Earth, I felt like I was in a whole other galaxy, one where women had snakes for legs and boys pulled skeletons from the ground.

"Jet Avery, sixteen years old, son of Apollo," Jet said cheerfully.

"Nico di Angelo, fifteen - HOLY COW!" Nico yelled. He jumped into the air, pulling out his sword as he did so. "Annabeth!" he shouted, seemingly at nothing. There was a girl's laughter and suddenly a blond girl materialised out of nowhere, pulling a Yankees baseball cap off her head. She looked to be in her late teens and had stormy gray eyes.

"Hey, Annabeth." Jet waved.

"Holy cow?" she snorted. "You sound like Hera."

"I'm not exactly going to use my _father_'s name as a curse, am I? And, don't sneak upon me like that," Nico frowned. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"I'm here to see how you and Jet are getting along on your assignment," Annabeth answered. "Is that our newest camper?" She eyed me like I was some interesting sculpture. Her gray eyes scrutinized me closely, as if evaluating my usefulness. I hastily straightened my back in an attempt to appear taller and more confident. Annabeth definitely struck me as somebody I'd like to have on my side.

"Yeah." I tried to sound confident, but my voice became unnaturally high-pitched. "Erm. Hi. I'm Summer Forrester."

"Hi, Summer." I couldn't decide whether her voice was intentionally cold or not. "Ready to go to Camp Half-Blood?" I nodded in response. Annabeth wrapped her fingers around my wrist and pulled me along surprisingly fast, leaving Jet and Nico trailing behind. We reached the top of a small hill, where a shimmering golden fleece was draped around a pine tree. The boys caught up with us, both panting and glaring at Annabeth who didn't seemed to be fazed.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth announced.

* * *

The camp was _huge_.

That was the first thought that registered in my mind as I stepped inside Camp Half-Blood with Annabeth. I could see green fields rolling away on one side and a lake in the distance. There were a whole series of cabins arranged in a weird shape, like a horseshoe with bits at the end. Kids of all ages were roaming around wearing bright orange shirts. Some were waving swords that actually glinted in the light. I blinked. Those weren't real swords, right?

"See you guys later, I'm going to find Percy." Annabeth sprinted off down the hill before pausing. "Take her to Chiron!" she called.

"Who or what is a _Chiron_?" I asked, confused.

"Chiron's a centuar. Half-man, half-horse," Jet explained. "Anyway, he's the head of this camp and all campers should get to know him." He started walking off towards some huge sky-blue mansion and I followed him, until someone caught my arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" Nico narrowed his eyes.

"I'm taking Summer to Chiron," Jet said.

"In case you didn't know, she's my assignment. Not yours." Assignment? Nico was talking about me like I was some object, a table or a chair. That stung. I stepped in between him and Jet, having made my decision. "I'm going with Jet." Jet smirked at Nico and his face fell. I couldn't help feeling sorry for Nico as hurt registered in his eyes, but the emotion was quickly gone, replaced by his usual indifferent look. "Yeah. Whatever." He stalked off, leaving a path of blackened grass in his wake.

Jet smiled at me, ignoring Nico's departure. "What do you want to do first?"

"Let's go see a centaur."

* * *

My head was spinning after I had gone all around the enormous camp, and acquainted myself with Chiron, the different gods and goddesses, the cabins, the lava wall, not to mention the campers. The teenagers mostly ranged from thirteen to around eighteen years old but there were a few older ones that I spotted, like Annabeth and a black-haired guy that accompanied her.

"This is just amazing," I breathed in awe. The sun was setting, casting brilliant rays of vibrant colours across the whole field and bathing the hills in red. I gazed over the cabins - Cabin Eight was starting to glow silver - the various buildings, and in the distance, strawberry field tended by satyrs. There was a large patch of forest to my right, and I glanced at it, interested to know what creatures lived in there.

Jet noticed my preoccupation. "You haven't gotten a weapon yet, so you can't go there," he pointed out. "And.. you haven't been claimed either, so it'll be more dangerous for you." He said the word _claimed_ reverently, like claiming was an important ritual where everyone went through.

"What do you mean, claimed?"

Jet's smile faded. "Umm. There was this huge war in Manhattan, New York, because Kronos wanted to take over and Percy Jackson had to stop him... Never mind about that," he added hastily, seeing my bewildered face. "Anyway, Percy told the gods that they had to claim all their children by the age of thirteen. Before that, unclaimed kids all slept in the Hermes cabin. Claiming means that the god or goddess sends you a sign signifying you as their kid. Usually it appears in the form of the god's symbol above your head."

"Wait... so whoever my mum or dad is, he or she couldn't be bothered to claim me." The truth pierced my heart. "They don't care about me."

"Summer, its okay! I'm sure they just forgot and they'll claim you soon," Jet reassured me, placing his hand on my shoulder. I knocked his hand away and headed for the dining pavilion., kicking the grass with every step. It shouldn't bother me that much, to know that both my parents didn't want me. After all, I was raised an orphan, believing that my parents were dead.

Maybe it was easier to think that then to realize that one, or both of them, didn't want me.

The dining pavilion was packed when I got there, with campers jostling around and chattering away. I made my way for the Hermes table, since I was unclaimed. The word burned everytime I thought about it, and I tried not let myself get riled up again. Conversation quickly arose from the Hermes table when they spotted me. "Who's our newest cabinmate?" Travis and Connor chorused, already moving up to make a space for me. The Hermes children all looked alike, with sly smiles and rather sharp features. I wouldn't trust anything with them.

I smiled shyly. "I'm Summer Forrester. Nice to meet you. And thanks," I added, taking my seat.

"You don't look like a Hermes kid," Connor commented.

"Mmm-hmm," I said non-commitally, trying to avoid any tricky questions. The campers took their food and made sacrifices to the gods by scraping offerings into the fire. The fire smoked and spat embers out into the darkening sky. When my turn came, I sent a silent prayer: _Whoever you are, tell me. Please._

I noticed Nico sitting alone at the Hades table and the way everyone seemed to give him a wide berth. When I asked Travis about it, he looked at me and said, "Nico hangs out with the dead. The living and the dead don't mix." It didn't seem that Nico was accepted widely.I also saw the black-haired guy I had seen earlier with Annabeth sitting at the Poseidon table alone. It was pretty funny, the way some tables seemed to be totally empty or had only one occupant, and others were really crowded, like the Apollo or the Hermes table.

"Attention!" Chiron stamped his hooves against the ground. The campers all looked at him expectantly. Chiron cleared his throat. "We have a new camper. Summer Forrester!" He waved at me and I stood up, feeling rather small under the eyes of all the teenagers. Someone called out, "Regular or undetermined?"

"Undetermined." A ripple of surprise swept through the crowd. "Most campers are determined on their first day." Connor eyed me. "We haven't had an undetermined case for _ages_."

This was just getting better. I had the only parent who was too lazy to claim me, or refused to acknowledge me. My shoulders slumped in disappointment. Would it kill s/he to just send a symbol?

"Capture the Flag is tomorrow night, campers! And now, its time for the Sing-A-Long!" The campers all cheered and started heading towards the pit. I could feel their excitement building up as the Apollo kids all led us in singing songs about the gods and goddesses. I had to admit, I was starting to feel pretty at home among all these people... After years of feeling like I never fit in, I had finally found my family. Kids who had gone through the same challenges as me, kids who had felt like their world was disintegrating. They were all here at Camp Half-Blood.

That night, as I fell asleep in the Hermes cabin, I couldn't help thinking of my parents... and the funniest thing was, I could have sworn I heard seagulls.

* * *

**A/N: Aaaaaaand I'm back! First of, I am so sorry for neglecting this story for such a long time. Writer's block is terrible. I'm not too fond of this chapter but I hope you all will enjoy it. Also, don't expect regular updates for me as I'll be quite busy from now on **


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